Tak's Scales of War game

The epic adventures of the Storms of Fate

After helping to clear out a few stray monsters in town, the Storms of Fate were then summoned by Overlook’s council. Each member of the group was given 1000 gold and their pick of various magical relics, as well being granted the rank of “Guard Captain,” with access to the official regalia of the guard captains and mundane weapons and armor normally used for outfitting the town guard. The group was also offered the chance for one of their members to take the place of an elderly member of the council. The Storms of Fate have not yet reached a decision on who will be taking up this position.

While regrouping the next day, Sarafein was approached by one of her contacts who had information on several bounties. After reviewing the bounties as a group, the team decided to make their way to one of the port cities along the coast and hire a merchant ship to bring them to the lair of a blue dragon. While swimming the rest of the way to the cave, the group was attacked by fish-people.

After sabotaging the group of attacking trolls and their catapults, the Storms of Fate made their way back into town to fight the berbalang. As they rode towards their base in the Nine Bells district, they noticed many of Overlook’s buildings on fire. This didn’t stop Ash and Sarafein from using the rooftops as a faster means of moving through the city’s streets.

After dealing with the berbalang, the party rode across the city to a breach in the walls where the trolls were coming through. Instead of handling the trolls, the group decided to fight a bunch of drow who were bent on capturing townsfolk for slaves. Sarafein’s Shadows handled another group of slavers and helped the rescued people to safety. It was then that the Storms of Fate noticed the skeletal dragon fly lower to the ground.

While heading to engage the skeletal dragon and Zithrun, Sheik made some epic pyrotechnics of each member of the Storms of Fate fighting and then leading the townspeople to New Daaszia. Dante and Sheik used their radiant powers to fight the dragon, Rathorex, while Ash and Sarafein took out Zithrun. As Zithrun fell dead to the ground, he said “I have failed again.”

After, while the group was selling things in town, they received an urgent message from the council. Meeting with the council revealed that a large army of approximately 400 trolls, githyanki, and other creatures were approaching the city. Determined to help save Overlook, the Storms of Fate immediately set to helping aid the city, each in their own way.

Link went to the forest a half-day’s ride from Overlook to gather animals to fight for the city. Sheik got the townspeople and guards together to show the weak points of the creatures they were to fight in the upcoming battle, and helped the dwarf priests analyze the Incanabulum Primeval. Ash recruited more fighting men and women from Shantytown and then set about training them. Dante also helped to train fighters, focusing on those who us two-handed weapons and divine magic. Dante also made a speech about the glory of Pelor, and composed a hymn for the Overlook army to sing to raise morale. Sarafein gathered members of the Lost Ones together to help set traps outside the town, along the way of the approaching army. Evelynn helped train people who use implements for their casting, and showed the town’s healers the most effective way to set up a battlefield triage. Evelynn also made a speech about the death and the Raven Queen, but is unsure if it helped or hindered morale.

The following day, the city heard war drums in the distance and rushed to the walls to see a front line of trolls with clubs, various types of siege machinery such as battering rams, catapults, and siege towers. The enemy army appeared to be led by a skeletal dragon and a berbalang.

Rather than let the enemy army reach the walls of Overlook, the Storms of Fate rode out the gates with a potion of their army to meet the trolls and siege machinery head on. Coming around one of the side walls of the city, they came face to face with a group of trolls and catapults. Working efficiently together, the group killed the trolls and destroyed one of the catapults. The second catapult they spared in an attempt to turn it back on the rest of the approaching enemy horde.

Wary about facing whatever lay behind the humming door, the Storms of Fate decided to rest in the living quarters close by. While resting, Dante had a dream about Overlook being overrun by various creatures, trolls and some sort of skeletal dragon among them. Dante informed the rest of the group of his dream upon waking and was concerned because his other dreams have come true.

After heading through the door with the humming, the group discovered drow, trolls, and githyanki in the room. There was also some sort of statue guardian, which activated to help the monsters. When the Storms of Fate moved to engage the trolls, one of the githyanki (Zithrun) ran away and went down a secret trapdoor in a statue of Moradin. Sheik was able to deactivate the stone guardian using her religious knowledge, and Dante rescued an azer that was tied up in an adjoining room.

The azer aided the Storms of Fate in battle and after revealed to the group that he was the Caretaker. He opened a hidden compartment and handed over the Incanabulum Primeval, mentioning that the book itself has many different powers, only some of which the priests at the Stone Anvil know of. After Dante informed the Caretaker of his dream of Overlook being overrun, the Caretaker mentioned possibly sending reinforcements to Overlook through the portals in the Mountainroute Temple, which are linked to the Stone Anvil.

Searching after the battle yielded a Drow House Insignia from House Vae, 900 gold, various ancient texts that Sheik took for her library, and a vial of House Vae poison. Moving to the vault, it took Sarafein three tries to open it, much to the dismay of her party members. Inside the group found 3900 gold and an Exodus Knife.

On the way out of the Mountainroute Temple, the group came upon a night hag who turned out to be the Twilight Lady, and some of her entourage of quicklings. They agreed to cut their losses and leave without fighting for the Incanabulum Primeval. However, one of the quicklings decided to leave the Twilight Lady and instead joined the Storms of Fate to become part of Ash’s army.

Trollin' for the Incanabulum Primeval

After a bit more exploring, the Storms of Fate came upon a large room with many quicklings, feydwarves, and weird insect guys. They appeared hostile, so our group started to engage them in combat. After a few seconds of battle, a large door at the back of the room burst open, and trolls and a fire-belcher entered the fray. The Storms of Fate banded with the quicklings/feydwarves/weird insect guys under the direction of Ash and were able to defeat the trolls without too much difficulty.

After the battle, the Storms of Fate questioned the quicklings and insect dudes. We found out that they are working for the Twilight Lady, who in turn works for Cachlain, a formorian. They were sent to retrieve the Incanabulum Primeval. They seemed more interested in escaping with their lives than continuing to fight us, so we let them go.

Sarafein and Dante were determined to find something worthwhile after the battle and found trinkets, figurines, etc. that Sarafein estimated to be worth about 2050 gold.

After inspecting his axe, Dante discovered that it had transformed at some point during the fight into an axe of Pelor. Sheik was able to tell the group that an ancient warrior who fought for Pelor and led armies against orcs and giants thousands of years ago had a legendary (artifact) halberd similar to how Dante’s axe now appears. The halberd was named the Shard of the Sun, and the weapon disappeared after the ancient battle and was never seen again.

After pondering this, the Storms of Fate continued onwards, through the door that the trolls had come through. A door off to the right contained what appeared to once be living quarters. Careful searching of the quarters yielded small objects worth about 50 gold. Listening at another door to the front, some sort of ethereal humming, similar to the ambient noise in the Astral Sea, could be heard along with several large creatures moving around.

Never try to teleport your allies.

After following fake-Durkik to the warehouse, the group was jumped by dwarf and human workers and battle ensued. After, Sarafein Zerenith noticed a secret trapdoor under the bed in a small room by the entrance. The trapdoor led to a spiral staircase going down, where the group found the REALDurkik locked in a highly sophisticated trapped cage. Sheik teleported Sarafein Zerenith into the cage, and Sarafein Zerenith managed to disarm the intricate traps while Dante Sunsworn kept Durkik healed. After Sarafein Zerenith unlocked the shackles and the door, the group was able to drag Durkik out of the cage.

The fake Durkik turned out to be a changeling who works for Zithrun. He met with Zithrun at the Pig in Bucket, and was in charge of the Stone Anvil. When the group decided to interrogate him more about Zithrun, he killed himself and released some sort of cloud of noxious green gas.

The REALDurkik told the group about the Mountainroute Temple, which the changeling had interrogated him about. The temple was built to honor Moradin after the war with the giants. There is a portal leading to it from the Sepulcher in the Stone Anvil. The temple itself houses the Incunabulum Primeval, which is what the changelings are trying to obtain. Durkik told the group that “the defenses of the temple are tied to the caretaker’s mind.”

Upon reaching the portal in the Sepulcher, the group had to tell stories about the glories of Moradin and the dwarves to face/door in order to be judged worthy to enter. Everyone managed to come up with a good story with the exception of Sarafein Zerenith, who struggled to find something that would appease the door. Immediately after walking through the portal, the group was attacked by some sort of fey-dwarves and harpies.

After dispatching the enemies, the group unsuccessfully attempted to travel through the runic archways along the sides of the room, but were unable to activate them. The group then headed through a door and down a long hallway, where they confronted quicklings and another harpy. The quicklings said they fought for Cachlain, the “stone-skinned king.”